A big piece that calls for a big sound, this
strikingly
operatic Requiem, subsequently dedicated to the
victims of the 2011 Utøya massacre (near Oslo),
benefits hugely from the large choral forces and
Super Audio recording. It’s bold to include a
non-
classical vocalist into a work like this, but
Teitur Lassen has a quietly
compelling presence, and the integration of hymns
by Simon
Grotrian into the traditional Latin texts helps
to reinforce an air of
timelessness and immediacy to the piece. A DVD
version might have
been worthwhile, but for the most part one is
content to surrender to
music that in this interpretation (semi-secular,
or post-Freud, one
might say) is devoted to the journey of the self
backwards from
death into life again. It’s a bold work by a
significant Danish
composer, richly and humanely sung.